CAMARILLO : Ex-Deputy Charged With Defrauding U.S.
Federal officials charged a former Ventura County sheriff’s deputy with two felonies in connection with a federal investigation into vendor fraud at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station.
Anthony Joseph Ditzhazy, 56, is charged with conspiracy to defraud the government and filing a false income tax return. The Camarillo man, who owned an industrial machinery supply company while serving as a deputy, is accused of plotting with two civilian Point Mugu employees to file false invoices for merchandise never delivered to the base. The incidents occurred between 1987 and 1989, the U.S. attorney general alleges.
Ditzhazy, owner of Pacific Proline, is accused of defrauding the base out of more than $130,000 with the help of Joseph Martin Vach and Gary Dale Robertson.
He is also charged with failing to report the money he received in the alleged scam on his federal income tax report. Vach and Robertson each received two-year prison terms for their part in the scam.
Ditzhazy retired from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department in 1991 after a 30-year career. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
He did not respond to telephone messages left on an answering machine at his home.
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